Facilitating Reading Throughout the School Day

Of all the material covered in Chapter Six- Emergent Literacy of Teaching Reading in the 21^st Century by Michael Graves, I found the sample “Kindergarten Scenario” to be the most interesting.  I believe that this teacher does an outstanding job of facilitating reading skills throughout the school day, which is an aspect of Education that we have learned is very important and often overlooked.

This teacher’s “warm-up” rhyming and sounding out activities, how this teacher incorporated three ability-based small groups into her teaching, and how see implements nonfiction text into her social studies and science instruction were particularly interesting.

Throughout my experiences in the classroom, I have seen many different teachers and their different styles of teaching and schedules of what they like to accomplish.  But, until now, I have never seen an hour-by-hour lesson plan of a teacher such as this one. This sort of lesson plan essentially condenses an entire day of observation into a quick glimpse into a teacher’s and student’s day.  You could arguably learn more from reading a dozen of teacher’s detailed lessons plans than observing one teacher the entire school day.

As future teachers, it is important to give thought into how we are going to incorporate literature and reading in throughout the school day. I believe that through direct observation and through reading lessons plans such as the one listed in the text, it is possible to develop a sound understanding of ways to develop readers beyond subject.  With this sound understand, we can find ways to implement reading into our lessons that is tailored to our own unique teaching style and personality.  Using the knowledge and experience of current teachers through observations or lesson plans such as the one provided in the book are both great resources to develop effective reading development practices in the classroom throughout the entire school day.

This I Believe…

In my Reading Foundations course this week, we completed a short exercise based on the NPR series “This I Believe.”  I would like to take the opportunity to share my short essay with you:

This I Believe…

Modeling is the Key to Success

Think back to a time where one’s actions, whether a simple gesture, prophetic words, or just lending a helping hand, has inspired you to better your own life or the lives of others.  This individual may or may not of none it at the time, but they made a difference in your life.  These profound individuals in our lives are called role models.  Role models all invoke an inspirational sense of self-improvement in all of us.  We strive to reach and achieve the certain level of success we see in our role models.  When role models are active influences in our lives, they make the most immediate impact.  For our nation’s youth, teachers have the unique opportunity of engaging with young people on a day to day basis.

Especially in the field of Education, I believe these models of behavior are very important in developing successful patterns of learning.  If someone that a student cares about exhibits patterns of regular reading and writing both academically and for enjoyment, students are much more likely to exhibit these behaviors.

However, we must always be aware that not all students have these models in their lives.  As teachers, modeling effective reading and writing strategies in our students is essential.  This can be as simple as keeping a leisure reading book on the top of your desk to keeping an active journal to write alongside your students.  Often times modeling effective behaviors in Education is as simple as practicing what you preach.  In order to make the most impact on student’s study and reading habits, it is important for teachers to demonstrate to their students’ successful behavior.  In return, student will exhibit these effective learning behaviors and become positive influences in the lives of others.  

This I believe.

Welcome!

Hello!

My name is Kabe Eichenauer and I am currently a second year undergraduate student studying Middle Childhood Education at The Ohio State University.  Through the next couple months, I plan on using this blog as a resource to communicate my thoughts, feelings, and perspectives on reading education techniques as I study the course “Reading Foundations”.  It is my hope that through reading this blog, you will gather some entertaining insight on education through the perspective of an aspiringn teacher. I hope you will join along with me as I embark on this exciting journey deeper into the educational realm!